Chong Kneas - Cambodia

A game of volleyball before sunset. In the background, local habitations, partly floating, partly on stilts.

Chong Kneas - Cambodia

Chong Kneas is a small village on the Tonle Sap Lake and is an important point of passage with boat connections to Phnom Penh and Battanbang. On a piece of recently reclamed land, a market was established, geared mainly to the inhabitants of the lake returning home.

Chong Kneas - Prek Toal Highway / Osmose

Back from Prek Toal to Chong Kneas, our boat must follow the channels through large patches of floating plants. Wind and currents may displace or simply erase these paths, which have to then be remarked, at the force of the vessels' propeller. To guide the boatman, the hill of Phnom Krom shows the way.

Our memorable visit and home stay at the Prek Toal floating village would not have been possible without the dedication of Osmose, an organisation registered as a local NGO that supports and provides environmental education to the local community.

In the unique environment of the Tonle Sap Great Lake, Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary is host to the highest number of breeding large water birds in South East Asia. Ten years ago, many of the rarest birds species populating the area faced a serious danger of extinction as over-harvesting of their eggs threatened to destroy their populations. As part of the response, Osmose was established with a novel approach to environmental protection: advancing conservation objectives through environmental education, community support and alternative income generation from Ecotourism.

10 years later, egg harvesting has stopped, the bird populations have recovered and Osmose is growing and evolving. The environmental education programme has reached 1000s of children, creating the future environmental guardians of this great lake. The alternative income programme has expanded to include Saray, a cooperative that creates woven products from the super-abundant water hyacinth on the lake, generating incomes for almost 40 women, while Osmose remains the premier Ecotourism operator in Prek Toal. Now, more than 100 families in the villages in which they operate benefit from Osmose’s income generating activities, and many more from Osmose’s medical (e.g. supply of water filters), social, schooling and material support and assistance.

More information on Osmose can be found on their website: www.osmosetonlesap.net/www/english/quoideneuf.php